


If You Have To Choose

by halfway_there_halfway_dead



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Missing Scene, Nightmares, Siblings, Violence, just a little bit, set right before they try to find callum and ezran in the first season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 09:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19148092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfway_there_halfway_dead/pseuds/halfway_there_halfway_dead
Summary: “Claudia,” Soren asks. “What’s wrong?”There’s concern in her brother’s voice and when Claudia looks up at him, she can see worry in his eyes.--Her father’s words plague her mind.She hopes to high heaven she’ll never have to make that decision.





	If You Have To Choose

 

 

 

Claudia pushes herself off the ground, dazed. She clings onto one of the many trees as she tries to straighten her head. They should have been more careful. The moon may not have been full but to fight Moonshadow elves at night was stupid.

 

Yet here she is.

 

She shakes her head and concentrates, trying to locate where the elves had gone. They’d run off with Callum and Ezran. Not only that but they had that weapon in their clutches. The dragon prince egg.

 

The faint blue glow of the egg catches her attention and she sprints towards it. She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a flask. Before she can unload its contents, she hears a soft fwip and pain explodes in her shoulders.

 

She cries out and collapses to one knee. The glass shatters on the ground. Shit, that was the second to last flask she had. When she turns she sees a dagger embedded in her. Soren may not have bat an eyelash at such an injury but Claudia nearly keels over.

 

She hears rustling above her.

 

“Fancy meetin’ you again.”

 

She knows that voice. It’s the elf she’d met in the dungeons. Rayla.

 

The elf looks down at her from her place in the trees. She has a sword in one hand, the egg in another. She smirks and her eyes twinkle with delight seeing the weapon hit its target.

 

Claudia hauls herself to her feet. She rips the dagger from her shoulder, blood staining her sleeve. She suppresses a grunt of pain before shooting Rayla a scathing snarl.

 

“Hand it over,” the mage demands.

 

Rayla’s smirk widens. She crouches a little and leans forward.

 

“I’d be a little less worried about this here egg and more worried about—”

 

A scream cuts her off. Claudia’s blood runs cold.

 

“Soren…”

 

She runs through the trees, feet stumbling over roots and rocks, heart in her throat.

 

She makes her way into a clearing. What she discovers drains all color from her face.

 

The arrow embedded in her brother’s gut makes her forget of her own injury. There are three elves, one of which seems to already have been defeated by Soren. Two are still standing though and while Soren is on his feet as well, he is close to collapsing. He snaps the arrow’s shaft in half.

 

“Soren!”

 

He eyes Claudia, relief in his eyes. She makes a move towards him but he shakes his head. Instead he flicks his eyes to one of the elves and nods at her. Anxiety pools at the bottom of her stomach but she forces herself to nod back. She trusts him.

 

The siblings move simultaneously.

 

Soren fakes an escape, luring the elf to attack. When he does, Soren sidesteps the elf’s attempt at a lunge and buries his elbow in the elf’s solar plexus. Claudia rams into the other elf. The two tumble to the ground and Claudia manages to pin him down. She unsheathes the blade hidden in her boots. As smoothly as she would uncap a flask, she plunges the blade into the elf’s chest.

 

She may be more adept in magic but she learned how to use small blades for self-defense years ago.

 

Claudia rises from the ground, wiping away crimson from her cheeks. She gets ready to help her brother when something catches her attention.

 

Rayla rushes past her through the tree branches leaving a streak of blue as she passes, the egg secured tightly under her arms.

 

Claudia reaches for her last flask. She has to get that egg!

 

Then she hears him.

 

“Claudia!” her brother chokes out.

 

When she turns, Soren is on his knees. Blood runs down his abdomen, the arrow still implanted there. The elf looms over him, raising his bloody sword and placing it beneath her brother’s chin. Ice washes over her.

 

“Soren!”

 

She’s too far to opt for physical confrontation. She grasps her flask, her last flask, when a voice reverberates inside her head.

 

_If you have to choose, choose the egg._

 

She freezes.

 

At her hesitation, disbelief blooms in Soren’s face.

 

“Claudia?” he whispers, voice so small but so loud in this cursed forest.

 

_“It’s okay,” Soren used to say after she’d messed up a spell, the tooth gapped smile on his face so wide it should have hurt, “In a real battle, we’ll have each other. I’ll protect you and you’ll protect me and together we’ll never lose.”_

 

The sword slices through his throat like butter and blood sprays.

 

The last thing Claudia sees before the lights fades from her brother’s eyes is betrayal.

 

She screams.

 

She drops the contents of the flask into her palm, fury and guilt engulfing her. Before she can even squash the ingredient in her hand, the elf turns to face her.

 

Except it’s not an elf. _It’s her_. She sees herself covered in her brother’s blood, the crimson stained sword still clasped in her hands. Claudia backs away, horrified. The other her steps forward.

 

There’s nothing in her other self’s eyes. It’s dull and empty and dead. Red drips from her face and she doesn’t wipe it away.

 

“What have you done?” Claudia asks her, Claudia asks herself.

 

“I did what I had to.”

 

\--

 

Claudia bolts up from the bed, a scream lodged in her throat. Hair sticks to her sweat slicked forehead and she pushes them behind her ear, swallowing spit. Her heart hammers beneath her ribcage and she takes in a shuddering breath.

 

It’s still dark outside, maybe three in the morning, way before she needs to be awake for the mission her father has tasked both her and Soren for. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to go back to bed though.

 

Maybe a walk will help clear her mind and tire her out.

 

She stands up.

 

Quietly, she steps out into the hallway. The nightmare is still fresh in her mind and she tries not to think of her brother’s blood splattered across her indifferent face. She finds herself lifting a hand to wipe her cheek. She’s surprised it doesn’t come off red.

 

Claudia wanders the hallways, lit only by meek candles. She used to be afraid of these halls, especially at times like this when shadows formed and flickered in the darkness. Soren was the person she would run to when her fears became too much. He would tease her of course, as a brother does, but he was always able to soothe her. She is past that age now but she can feel the old sense of apprehension as she continues to walk.

 

By coincidence or by habit, she ends up at her brother’s door. She hadn’t meant to. She’d been too lost in her own thoughts to really know where she was going but her feet had taken her here. The urge to open the wooden door is staggering. A part of her knows he’s in there, out like a light so he can be ready for the mission tomorrow. Another part of her wants, _needs_ , to make sure he’s in there, safe and alive.

 

Her hand twists the knob and the door opens a crack. It’s just enough so she can see her brother’s sleeping form, but the slight creak of the door causes him to shoot up from his bed. Damn Crownguard training. She almost ends up shutting the door closed again.

 

He’s up and alert now, head swiveling to the source of the noise. He seems ready to jump out of bed but when he realizes it’s only Claudia, he immediately relaxes.

 

“Clauds?” His voice is scratchy and groggy. “What’re you doin’ here?”

 

Claudia laughs nervously.

 

“It’s nothing,” she tells him, already backing away, “It’s stupid. Go back to sleep.”

 

She’s about to close the door and retreat back to her room when he says, “If it’s nothing, how can it be stupid?”

 

The strange question causes her to pause. He slips out of bed and walks toward the open door.

 

“Claudia, what’s wrong?”

 

There’s concern in his voice and when Claudia looks up at him, she can see worry in his eyes.

 

“I just… I had a nightmare, that’s all,” she confesses quietly.

 

She sees the corners of Soren’s lips rise.

 

“A dark mage like you getting a nightmare?” he asks, tone teasing. “And here I thought you’d be used to all sorts of creepy things after what you work with.”

 

She crosses her arms and looks away.

 

“I told you it was dumb,” she says, pouting. She feels a flush creep up from her neck to her cheeks. “I’m going back to bed.”

 

“Wait,” Soren says. He steps back and opens the door wider, gesturing her in. When Claudia hesitates, he rolls his eyes. “Come on, Clauds, my bed’s big enough for the both of us.”

 

He wraps an arm around her and brings her inside. The door shuts behind them. Soren yawns, stretching his arms and smacking his lips as he heads toward the bed.

 

“Come on,” he tells her. “We need to have a good amount of sleep for the mission tomorrow.”

 

He slides under the covers and rolls over to give her space to lay on. She follows, laying with her back to him as he pulls the blanket over her. The side she’s on is warm.

 

It’s been a long time since she’s slept in Soren’s bed. She used to do this a lot when they were much younger and when their rooms were right next to each other. They’d curl up together after she’d come from a nightmare, their arms around each other. Their rooms are further apart now and she hasn’t suffered from nightmares for a long time.

 

She closes her eyes, tries to fall asleep but the darkness gets filled with bloody images and her eyes snap open. She can still feel the warm sensation of something dripping down her cheek.

 

“Was it bad?”

 

Soren says this quietly, not much louder than a breath. Claudia purses her lips, guilt churning in her stomach. The silence stretches on for a long moment.

 

“Yes,” she finally whispers.

 

She feels Soren shift. An arm drapes itself over her.

 

“It’s okay, little sister,” he murmurs into her hair. “I’m here.”

 

_She’s six years old and her face is blotched with tears. Snot is running down her nose and it’s really gross, but Soren just cards his fingers through her hair. He pulls her closer with his other hand and rests his chin on her scalp._

_“It’s okay, little sister,” he tells her, rubbing his palm against her back. “I’m here.”_

 

Claudia turns over to face him. She doesn’t say anything, just rests her head against his chest. The gesture must have surprised him because he tenses slightly before relaxing again. She can hear the steady beat of his heart and the sound soothes her. Soren lets out a small chuckle and just as he did in the past, he combs his fingers through her hair.

 

Claudia smiles.

 

He’s here and he’s alive.

 

She clutches onto him and closes her eyes.

 

“Thanks, Sor-bear.”

 

The two drift off to sleep and don’t wake until morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this so long ago and only now am I publishing it. I hoped you liked it anyway!


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